All Things V6...

[CitroJim]

A couple of weeks is about right with a fair battery... Three if it's a really good one...

[BW]

I often leave mine for over a month without any problem.

[Northern_Mike]

Yes. I'm surprised at a month being considered good. I used to leave all my cars over a month in winter when I used to go to Brazil from early Dec to early Jan and only once had a fail to start after A Ford Focus!

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[Zelandeth]

I do have to do a mental check these days to remember to disconnect batteries when leaving modern cars for any length of time. There is something to be said for older cars in this regard. My previous Skoda started first try without issue when it was laid up for a while when the brakes were acting up. ...Don't think the Xantia would start without a jump after sitting untouched in the garage for six months!

[Deanxm]

Your friend and mine, Mr Potatoe, no sorry that's not right, its the sun! http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/190741682264?nav=SEARCH" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Does the job well.

D

[DHallworth]

Cheers, Dean! For a tenner I'll give one of them a try. Am curious to know if the battery will last now the CPH has been replaced first before I put that on though.

Today has seen a bit more fettling for the Activa. I remembered that when I changed the front electrovalve I had left the green o ring off. Thankfully it hadn't leaked in the time I'd had it fitted, however I decided today that I'd put that right before I head to the Northern in it at the end of May so that I don't end up with a hydraulic leak.

I also gave the car a service and changed the oil and filter. It almost seemed a bit pointless doing it really as the old oil had only done around 500 miles, but as it was 12 months old I thought I'd have it out.

Today I replaced the front side light bulbs and rear marker light bulbs with LED's as the old filament bulbs looked very yellow when they were switched on because they sit right beside the Xenon bulbs. I've also taken the private plates off it today and put the original number plates back on as the DVLA assigned the car it's original number plate back

That's me finished car fettling for the next 7 days at least now as my on call week starts tomorrow.

David.

[DHallworth]

I just went out to get my wallet from the C6 and upon unlocking it I've found the first problem with using LED's in the sidelights. As soon as you wake the BSI up it must put a tiny current to the side light and DRL bulbs. With a normal filament bulb there's obviously not enough current to illuminate the bulb, however with LED's they illuminate quite well as soon as the car is unlocked...

Here's the sidelights illuminated just after unlocking...



Here's the sidelights illuminated with the sidelights switched on...





There's a massive difference between the light output between the two states though.

The DRL's also illuminate...



Cheryl mentioned she had a sidelight bulb out on her 207 when I was doing the LED's on the C6 so I fitted two to her car as well, the 207 does the same thing when you wake the BSI through unlocking the car. Again, these are taken with the sidelights switched off, just after unlocking the car.

[Stickyfinger]

The LED's I have put in my C5 do that.

I have had no long term drain to the battery.

[Mandrake]

It's just a small current passed through the bulbs that the BSI will use to test the bulbs have continuity and allow the BSI to detect blown bulbs while they are still "off", and not in use. As you've noticed, this won't be enough to illuminate a filament bulb but can dimly light LED's.

This is unlikely to cause any harm or draw any extra current compared to what the filament bulb would have, in fact if you were to measure it it would probably be a lot less.

The only potential problem is that if the current is a lot lower than the BSI expected of a filament bulb it might complain the bulbs are faulty. As long as it doesn't complain of a faulty bulb and you don't mind the dim glow I wouldn't worry about it.

[Trainman]

Just been outside and checked mine, they do the same..........

[DHallworth]

Other then an intermittent fault with the drivers door lock, the door handle drops the window but the door doesn't open, there's nothing really to report with the C6. It's behaving very well. Thankfully locking and unlocking the car with the remote seems to cure this fault at the moment but I've got a feeling at some point it'll need a door latch.

Our local detailer had a cancellation on his wash service this morning so I decided to take the C6 down and get it washed.





I'm loving having it back again and it's doing exactly what I want it to at the moment

There's a couple of little marks on the paintwork (I'm being really picky) so it's going in for a full paint correction at the end of July. Need to decide what I'm doing about the wheels before then too. I really like the Atlantique wheels but cannot decide if I should keep my eyes peeled for a set of them or have my Roccostrada ones refurbished due to kerbing. Decisions, decisions.

David.

[bxzx16v]

It certainly does look nice David.

Mark

[DHallworth]

Just a short update tonight... I got sent a link to this earlier from Ian Seabrook, a motoring journalist, and Citroen enthusiast.



He drove my XM at the XM 25th gathering and has managed to put a video together. It's a shame my exhaust started to blow on the way to that event as you can hear it in the video

David.

[DHallworth]

Just a quick update...

The battery still hasn't been disconnected since my last post (3 days short of a month ago) and the car has been used very little and it's still starting first time, and instantly without any signs of being sluggish! I'm convinced I have found the cause of the battery drain in the Activa now

I took the car down yesterday (Wednesday evening) and dropped it off at the local detailer to get a wash ready for heading to the Northern tomorrow morning (Friday). Today (Thursday) he sent me a text saying "There's a big puddle of Citroen blood under your car this morning mate".

Anyway, he finished doing his thing with the car and as always, the results are spectacular. This is after his "Posh Wash" service, there's no waxes or anything been applied to this car in quite a while now...







After I got it home I had a look under it and found that the rear Activa ram was absolutely soaked in LHM. I got my stuff sorted out and dug out the gaitor that I'd bought to implement a CitroJim repair. However, to my amazement and relief, I found that I didn't need to get as in depth as that

The return from the Activa ram had somehow become seperated from where it should be...



I gave it a shove back in and all was well...



And just to give it a bit more of a secure connection I tie wrapped it in situ as well...



Anyway, the LHM has now been topped up, the coolant and oil levels were checked and found to be spot on, the tyre pressures have been checked too. The only thing that remains to be done between here and Ripon tomorrow is a tank of Shell's finest V-Power Nitro

On another note, I went to the local CCC meet in the C6 tonight. On the way there it flagged a tyre pressure warning for the O/S/R tyre. I decided to go home and check it and found that it was down to 28PSI. They should all be 2.4 bar (35PSI) for standard running or 2.6 bar for running at maximum load. I dropped the 3 other tyres to 2.4 bar and increased the tyre that was soft to the same pressure and the difference in the car is amazing. It feels much softer and less crashy which is a much welcomed improvement!!

Righto, that's it for now. I'm off to bed so I can get on my way to Ripon at a reasonable time!

David.

David.

[Stickyfinger]

\\the Activa is looking VERY VERY smart David

it is amazing just how much comes out of those little tubes, how does the bush material stand up to the soaking in LHM ?